FRINGE VOLUNTEER COORDINATOR
We are looking for someone to recruit, train, and supervise between 250-300 volunteers. Our ideal candidate would be someone perfectly bilingual, with experience in volunteer management, experience at the Fringe (especially with box office and venue management). The contract is from March 1 – June 27, 2010. Please send cv before February 15 to patrick@montrealfringe.ca.

COORDONNATEUR/TRICE DES BÉNÉVOLES
Nous cherchons une personne qui sera responsable du recrutement, formation, et encadrement de 250 à 300 bénévoles. Le candidat ou la candidate idéal(e) serait parfaitement bilingue, avec de l’expérience dans l’encadrement des bénévoles, de l’expérience au Fringe (particulièrement dans les domaines de la billetterie/gérant de salle). Le contrat dure du 1er mars au 27 juin 2010. SVP envoyer votre cv avant le 15 février à : patrick@montrealfringe.ca

FRINGE COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR
We are looking for someone to be responsible for media relations for the Fringe. We require someone perfectly bilingual, with experience in media relations and (I hate to put it this way) Web 2.0 social networking and marketing. Experience in media relations in Montreal theatre a must; knowledge of the Fringe an asset. The contract is from March 1 – June 27, 2010. Please send cv before February 15 to patrick@montrealfringe.ca.

DIRECTEUR/TRICE DES COMMUNICATIONS
Nous cherchons une personne qui sera responsable des communications pour le festival Fringe. Le candidat ou la candidat(e) serait parfaitement bilingue, avec de l’expérience dans les relations médiatiques et Web 2.0 (j’haïs le terme, beurk). De l’expérience dans les relations médiatiques pour le théâtre un must, une bonne connaissance du Fringe sera un atout. Le contrat dure du 1er mars au 27 juin 2010. SVP envoyer votre cv avant le 15 février à : patrick@montrealfringe.ca

CoMotion Farm’s Dance Week, starts on Monday night at MainLine Theatre (3997 St. Laurent, just below Duluth). The festival offers everything dance! From classes, to performances, it won’t disappoint!

On Friday January 15th, Indyish along with CoMotion Farm, brings you the Dance Mess! Featuring some great musical acts, dance acts, dance comedy and dance films! It’s a great way to bring in the new year and start with you feet guiding the way!

Here’s the fun we have planned for you!

Music!
* Satellite Maps – http://www.myspace.com/satellitemaps
* Elizabeth Bruce – http://www.myspace.com/elizabethbruce
* Shitting Bear – http://www.myspace.com/shittingbear
* Tasha Cyr

Dance!
* Allison Burns’ Improvised Dance with Soprano Saxophone – Kayla Milmine
* Rebecca Halls :: http://www.IHOOPU.com

Dance Comedy!
* Peter J. Radomski!

And much more!

It all starts at 9pm sharp so get there early to grab a great seat!

MainLine Theatre
3997 St. Laurent

Tickets are $10/$8 for students! You can get them in advance at MainLine Theatre!

PUBLICITY WORKSHOP – with MainLine & Fringe gurus Jeremy Hechtman & Patrick Goddard
Wednesday, January 13th, 2-4pm
Jeremy & Patrick will help you get an audience!

GRANT WRITING WORKSHOP – with MainLine & Fringe General Manager Patrick Goddard
Tuesday, January 12th, 8-10pm
Patrick will give you the tools you need to get granting agencies to show you the money!

Price: $50 each or $75 for both
@ MainLine Theatre – 3997 St-Laurent
(514) 849-FEST to register

Dancing In My Unbirthday Suit: X-Mas Edition &
Today Is All Your Birthdays

$10 / DECEMBER 10TH @ 21H00
MAINLINE THEATRE 3997 SAINT-LAURENT
Limited seating available – Reservations (514) 849-FEST

On December 10th, CoMotion Farm is presenting this one night only double-bill to raise funds for Montreal’s newest winter dance festival: CoMotion Farm’s Dance Week – January 11th-16th, 2010.

Dancing In My Unbirthday Suit: X-Mas Edition (Inertia Productions) is a special re-working of the original Fringe 2009 spectacular. Dance, comedy and physical theatre meet in a coming-of-age work.

“**** Blissful comic sass and silliness” – HOUR Magazine
“**** Laugh-out-loud funny and highly imaginative” – Now Toronto
“**** …the show is balanced beautifully by the trio, whose comedic skills and girlish charms match their physical prowess” – Montreal Mirror

Today Is All Your Birthdays (Uncalled For) is the latest in a long line of successes from Uncalled For. Their show Blastback Babyzap was co-winner of the Just For Laughs Best Comedy Award at the 2008 Montreal Fringe, and THUNDERSPANK! brought Uncalled For the Best Text Award at the 2007 Montreal Fringe. Today Is All Your Birthdays is the newest award-winning brainchild of the troupe, capturing the Outstanding Ensemble Performance Award at the 2009. For more information about the troupe: www.uncalledfor.com.

____________________________________________________________________

CoMotion Farm was founded in 2009 to support Montreal’s up-and-coming contemporary dance artists. It was founded as a reaction to the lack of realistic opportunities for emerging choreographers or students to present their work in professional contexts.
CoMotion Farm’s Dance Week, the company’s first event, is a celebration of dance taking place at MainLine Theatre from January 11th-16th, 2010. Various activities will take place throughout the week, including an Indyish Dance Mess, Common Space showcase and dance or production-related workshops.

For media inquiries, please contact:
Amy Blackmore (514) 690-3112
amy_blackmore@hotmail.com

Friends,

Today I won a Scotsman Fringe First Award for the Rap Guide to Evolution,

which is a prize given each year to the best new writing for the stage at
the Edinburgh Fringe. This is the literally the most coveted theatre prize
at the festival (it’s officially a big deal), so it really is a great
acknowledgement of the show and a great boost for the rest of the run (ten
more days to go!), and for life after the Fringe. Last year the Rebel Cell
was nominated for a Fringe First but we didn’t make it through the final
round of judging. This year I guess I passed the bar, so call it a birthday
present to Darwin. Here’s the announcement on the Scotsman’s website:

<http://www.edinburgh-festivals.com/viewpreview.aspx?id=670>

Speaking of life after the Fringe, I am now on the lookout for gig
opportunities for October (UK), November (USA) and February – April 2010
(Australia), and if you have another place or another time in mind I’m open
to any possibility. Please get in touch. If you want to know about
availability I put all of my confirmed gigs on my Google Calendar:

<http://www.tinyurl.com/babascalendar>

If you haven’t heard the Rap Guide to Evolution yet, you can download the CD
from here:

<http://www.tinyurl.com/rapguide>

And if you want to read more about my Edinburgh experience this year, check
out my “Darwin on the Fringe” blog for Whatsonstage.com:
<http://www.whatsonstage.com/blogs/edinburgh2009/?cat=47>

Love and fecundity,

Baba

One more thing before the dispatch, here’s a sweet snippit of Baba plugging his show’s run at one of the countless festivals and venues around the world he’s toured to:

The launch of the Edinburgh Fringe was one week ago, and I just finished
performing my 25th show of the festival. Yes, with previews last week and
both the Rap Guide to Evolution and the Rebel Cell on every single day, plus
cabaret spots at night, it adds up quickly. There is so much to tell that
I’m not even going to try to elaborate in an email, except to say that the
highlights have been constant and consistently stimulating, and I’m blogging
them regularly.

Yes, if you want to know more about the details of my experience here, I am
writing a regular blog called “Darwin on the Fringe” for Whatsonstage.com, a
Darwinian analysis of the strange phenomenon that is the world’s largest
arts festival. The most recent entry about performers-cum-producers and the
phenomenon of human menopause is particularly entertaining. Here’s a link
to read it, and catch up on the past week:

http://www.whatsonstage.com/blogs/edinburgh2009/?cat=47

The other interesting development is that we’ve been on the telly quite a
lot lately. Dizraeli and I performed live on both BBC Breakfast Television
and GMTV last week, which went out to literally millions across the UK, and
the BBC rap was picked up by BBC News 24 and run worldwide (!) every hour
that day, so a lot of random people in Australia, Europe, etc, have written
to say they saw us, quite surreal. Here’s the link to the BBC feature:

And here’s the link to the GMTV feature:
http://www.gm.tv/videos/gmtv-highlights/36608-edinburgh-festival.html

And the reviews? So far we have only been reviewed once for the Rebel Cell,
quite positively, and I have been reviewed four times for the Rap Guide to
Evolution, two three star reviews and two four star ones. The three star
reviews have faulted me for speaking too fast and trying to cram too much
into an hour, and for coming across too much like a lecture and not enough
like theatre. The best (ie most interesting) review so far was from
BroadwayBaby.com, and ought to be read in its entirety, since the critic
really did pick up on some of the most important elements of the show:

http://tinyurl.com/bbrapguide

Regardless of the reviews, the crowds have been having a great time, and
we’ve been playing to full (if not yet sold out) houses. I have also had
some great responses on my Rap Guide to Evolution CD giveaway, including
plugs on both RichardDawkins.net and PZ Myers’ legendary Pharyngula blog,
which called it “not bad” (shivers!). Check it out, along with some of the
twaddle:

http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2009/08/the_rap_guide_to_evolution.php

Onward and upward!

Baba

–
Baba Brinkman
Babasword Productions
07876 263 824

first up:

Afterlife
Afterlife on Montreal Fringe

Afterlife is a very polished one-woman play about one female’s soul’s journey through three very different eras in 20th and 21st century America. The first act (which I thought was the best) tells the story of one woman’s misadventures in attempting to conceive in the rural south, in 1918. The writing, by Chris Van Strander and Candy Simmons was spot on, and Candy Simmons’ performance was coolly professional. She had the unique talent of hooking the audience completely from her first word on. The price of admission is worth it for this first characters darkly hilarious manner of disposing of a series of less than fertile husbands.

Equally impressive was Simmons’ ability to completely shift into other characters–a 1960’s Wisconsin housewife and a present day New York power businesswoman. Each character was distinctly nuanced and totally human, and Simmons tour-de-force performance accomplished what I consider to be one of the principle objectives of good theatre: putting the audience at ease. There was nothing but comfort in sitting back and letter her characters’ wild monologues take us wherever they wanted to (despite my unfortunate choice to wear my tightest pair of Friday night slacks, thereby making me uncomfortable in ways even I hadn’t imagined).

Afterlife is a smart, entertaining, funny and thought-provoking play. It is the most polished thing I’ve seen at this year’s fringe. It manages to say a lot about women’s evolving relationship to the equally evolving world around them throughout the last 100 years. Highly recommended.

Playing at:
Scene 3-Espace 4001 Berri Space

06/20/2009 – 16:45
06/21/2009 – 16:30

With ten minutes to get down to the Cabaret Juste Pour Rire, I hopped on my velo and jetted down to Sherbrooke ant St-Laurent, my cell phone beeping missed message the whole way. No one ever calls me when my phone is on. Sigh.

up next:

Teen Sleuth & the Freed Cyborg Choir: a coming of age story that will make you want to stand up and cheer!
Teen Sleuth & the Freed Cyborg Choir On Montreal Fringe
TeenSleuthFreedCyborgChoir.com

This is one of those rare fringe shows that come pre-equipped with buzzy hype, having graced the cover of the hour a couple weeks back. Naturally then, the Cabaret was pretty packed for this Friday night performance. One play into my night already, I ordered a cup of water from the bar and settled in for the continuation of my adventure, which prompty turned very very weird.

Teen Sleuth is a completely over the top rock opera ballet, complete with band, wireless microphone headsets, abstract projects, and best of all, sick, sick costumes. Think high school play meets Talking Heads meets psychedelic nightmare. The costumes were outta-fucking-site and really elevated this wallop of a musical into something special. That and the delicious vocal harmonies that set the backdrop for pretty much the entire show. Man, am I a sucker for harmonies. What the show is about, I could not for the life of me explain. From what I can gather there was something about a forest and a baby and perhaps a murder, horses, dudes with small heads– who the hell knows. The plot, really, remains decidedly beside the point. This show was all about the seamless explosion of music, dance, costume, visual images and all-our raw energy. Good and very fun. I didn’t stand up and cheer, but some other people did. Perhaps you will too.

02 – Just for Laughs Cabaret

06/20/2009 – 17:00

After a thirty minute reprieve with some beer and some friends and some fresh air, I was ready to complete my triptich.

Dans le salon avec la clef anglais
Dans Le Salon
Dans Le Salon Blog

I was quite smugly proud of myself to opening up my wingspan to include a francophone performance. This is culture, in action! The Fringe Festival remains a distinctly anglo gathering in most respects, and it’s easy to forget that there’s plenty of French action going on. I was excited to be dipping my toes in the other side of linguistic pool. But then again, it doesn’t take all that much to get me excited.

Dans le salon is a murder mystery show with a strong quebecois flavour. The audience is presented with eight (ten? twelve? it was a long night) suspects who must alternately confess about all the horrible things they’ve done in their lives and try and flimsily convince the audience of their innocence. The best part of the show was the opening few minutes when the characters flash back and forth talking about their many (mostly sexual) petty transgressions. There are some truly hilarious things that people can do to their friends if they set their minds to it. As the evening progresses, we get more and more information about each suspects character, and it’s quite remarkable how much we can find out about each one in just 45 short minutes. The play is wickedly funny at times, at others it’s a little disturbing and somewhat frightening, as any good horror movie should be. I must admit that my perfect understanding of quebecois français is not quite as perfect as I thought it was. Shit. Fucking theatre, leaves no stone unturned. At the end of the show, the audience is left to pick the murderer, Clue-styles. It is an excellent way to ensure audience participation, and to make one little anglo in the audience feel uncomfortable in yet another unexpected way. Language is the too-tight pants of my consciousness.

Dans le salon is an excellently written, well-acted and interestingly choreographed affair. Their use of lighting and darkness was extremely effective and creating a scary vibe. I liked it.

06 – MainLine Theatre

06/21/2009 – 24:15 (apres minuit/after midnight)
06/21/2009 – 14:00

My adventure continues today, where I will attempt to beat my own world record for plays seen in a day. I’m one day wiser, so there promises to be more astute reviews, more languages, more good stuff, more bad stuff, more drinking and more looser pants. Here’s to survival!

Piss in the Pool-5 year Anniversary

Tickets purchased at the door: $ 11
Or by phone: 849-FEST

Since 2005 the event Piss in the Pool has showcased the work of some of the most exciting young choreographers in Montreal. Conceived by Andrew Tay and Sasha Kleinplatz, the event takes contemporary dance out of the theatre and places it in the Bain St. Michel, a dilapidated, empty indoor pool in the heart of the Plateau. For the past five years now, the show has challenged audience expectations and assumptions by turning the pool into a playground for dancers, choreographers, and the public. In the past, this show has acted as a springboard for talented young dance artists including Andrew Turner, Katie Ward, Thea Patterson, Christiane Bourget, Dana Michel, and Namchi Bazar.

Every summer, the concept has remained the same: Using their surroundings as inspiration, choreographers are given 10 days to adapt their unique visions the Bain St. Michel. At the end of the 10 days their work is presented in 3 evenings of dance open to the public. For this anniversary edition we are welcoming back some of our favorite choreographers who have presented at previous editions of Piss in the Pool, as well as giving some fresh talent the opportunity to work in this unique space.

The project has been praised for giving young choreographic voices a chance to be heard, and for challenging the notion that contemporary dance is heavy and abstract by creating an atmosphere which is fun and unpretentious. Featuring swimsuit clad ushers, and whistle wielding M.C.’s, Piss in the Pool has become a highlight for dance in the summer, and always appeals to both the seasoned dance fan and newcomers alike.

Don’t miss this opportunity move out of the theatre and see contemporary dance from a new, fresh point of view. Come get wet with us June 18th, 19th, and 20th and enjoy some of the city’s most exciting choreographic talent….
[gallery]

Yesterday was a pretty amazing day. We gave away nearly 200 copies of our brand new zine. We shared music we love with hundreds of folks in a pretty pretty park wherein, despite all predictions to the contrary, it did NOT rain. We heard 1 minute promos from about a dozen Fringe shows. We exhausted and traumatized our comedian host with the madcapery of our show, and he kept us laughing anyway – thanks Faisal!! You rocked.

We also heard some interesting info, via the musician grapevine that twines itself in and around us, about how 2 amazing bands we love – Lake of Stew and Bloodshot Bill – had been booked to play an event for Quebec’s special identity holiday St Jean Baptiste Day. This would have been big news: primarily anglo bands being included in the celebrations for a distinctly Quebecois day, and it was something the bands were really really excited about and touched by – they are all Quebec born and and feel a strong connection to the folk culture here and to be included in the Fete St Jacques would have meant a lot to them and to the rest of us bilingual anglos who love it here and feel like this is home, but sort feel a pressure to disapear when it comes to the more separatist, anti-everybody-but-us versions of Quebec pride. Can you tell where this initially hopeful story is going? Despite the openminded kindness and enthusiasm of the festival coordinators who initially opened their arms to the Lake of Stew and Bloodshot Bill, their booking was cancelled at the last minute because a Sponsor objected fiercly to the inclusion. Le sigh.

Good news is, I believe and the few band members I spoke with agree, this attitude, however depressing, represents an old and outdated mentality. French Canadian culture is not about exclusion or isolation. French Canadian Montrealers all around us in our community are reaching out to the world with open arms, advancing social justice and individual rights issues on the international stage, making great art, and hollaring of a monumental belief in the goodness of others. French Canadian culture has so much to give the world, and I believe that anglophone Quebec culture – a minority within a minority – maybe has something to contribute to the celebration and translation of that wisdom outward. So yes, we must object and feel a little depressed at the Fete St Jacques turn of events, because it seems like a beautiful opportunity to move forward together wasted by some trying-to-remain-annonymous fear. But also we cannot help but dance and sing and dream together, in many languages and with rowdy voices, of the brighter future we are building together with all the great Quebecois folks we know, and all those others we don’t, but who are out there with their hopeful hearty glowing souls, touching fingers and toes across one boundary broken at a time.

So, anyway, hurrah for the unjuried, proudly Bilingual, hooplah of the Fringe! Enjoy while it lasts y’all, then keep the feeling in your heart all year.. sorta like Christmas… but with a beer tent.

Our line up is delicious if I don’t say so myself and I was much gratified in talking with Fringe coordinators last night at the kick off party to hear they’re really excited for the acts we’re bringing as well – Hexes and Ohs are making Canada dance these days with their music videos in rotation on both MTV and Musique Plus, and Courtney Wing is well know for the hovery-loverly-large flights of fancy the man can create with his symphonic band arrangements and Liederwolfe Opera back up singers / collaborators.

In addition to these, there is more! I wrote lovingly of all the bands and special strummers booked in this blog post on how our Fringe Mess will be super spectacular, so check that out. What I didn’t mention is that our host is Faisal Butts! I spoke with this edgy indie sweety of a comedien yesterday going over last details and based on our chat I believe his hosting over the course of the eve will range from darling to scandalous… one can only hope.

Also causing a stir, apparantly, is our invite to Fringe shows to share 1 minute monologues or scenes between bands to promote their love labours flourishing in all the rooms and stages around town. We’ve got quite a little list of shows preparing to showcase themselves to you, so come on down! (And if possible, we’ll be webcasting!)

NOW.

It’s a little early for buzz on what shows are worth laying down your entry fee + service charges for, but I am starting to put together a little list for myself of things that pop out and yell Love Me or at least Hey I Could be sub-Deputy of Almost Ok!

Our friends, and frequent Indyish Mess collaborators (and mess makers in their own right) from Uncalled For are involved in the Fest in all kinds of ways again this year, but it’s their new show, and their involvement in a dance show choreographed by the hilarious Robin Henderson, that’s tickled my fancy (ooh! fancy!)

Check it out:

After months of slaving away in the kitchen, the newest, freshest and sweetest sketch comedy experience from Uncalled For is set to have its official premiere at the Montreal Fringe Festival. Uncalled For presents: Today Is All Your Birthdays is an interconnected, intelligent celebration of birth, death, space, the theory of evolution, mimes, sandwiches and time travel. Feast your eyes on the playful, mind-expanding world that Uncalled For has created just for you!

Uncalled For presents: TODAY IS ALL YOUR BIRTHDAYS
at the St-Ambroise Montreal Fringe Festival
Venue #5 – Just For Laughs Studio – 2109 St-Laurent, below Sherbrooke

Saturday June 13th – 11:00 PM
Sunday June 14th – 2:00 PM
Wednesday June 17th – 7:15 PM
Thursday June 18th – 9:15 PM
Saturday June 20th – 2:00 PM
Sunday June 21st – 7:30 PM

Call 514-849-FEST for reservations. Tickets $9 + $2 service fee.
60 minutes. All performances start on time. Latecomers admitted.

• • • • • • • • • •

MORE ALSO, Uncalled For members Dan Jeannotte and Anders Yates will be performing as part of the world’s first ever comedy/dance tribe in Dance Animal presents: Dance Animal, bursting on to the scene at the Montreal Fringe. Come see this star-studded hour of pure entertainment, directed and choreographed by Robin Henderson (choreographer for Uncalled For’s Blastback Babyzap).

Dance Animal presents: DANCE ANIMAL
at the St-Ambroise Montreal Fringe Festival
Venue #5 – Just For Laughs Studio – 2109 St-Laurent, below Sherbrooke

Friday June 12th – 11:00 PM
Saturday June 13th – 2:15 PM
Wednesday June 17th – 9:00 PM
Thursday June 18th – 11:00 PM
Friday June 19th – 7:30 PM
Sunday June 21st – 12:30 PM

Call 514-849-FEST for reservations. Tickets $9 + $2 service fee.

60 minutes. All performances start on time. Latecomers welcome throughout.

• • • • • • • • • •

I’ve also got my feelers pointed toward AfterLife – because a one person show can be the most powerful kind of Fringe show. You strip everything away and then it’s just about the story and the actor – it’s the bones and soul of theatre right in front of you, and if the actor can withstand the tremendous pressure it’s heroic to watch. AfterLife is a one woman show that’s received rave reviews across Canada and in the US, notably for Candy Simmons apparently fluid and mesmerizing transitions between characters. Sounds hot:

What do an Appalachian midwife, a 1950’s homemaker and a slowly unraveling film producer have in common? Nothing…and everything. Trace the evolution of women by following one soul’s search for happiness. Do you know where your Karma’s been?

• • • • • • • • • •

One more show that caught my eye and brainwaves is SCREW by Flirt Productions – an ironic, naughty, educational send off of our generally crummy sexual education. Kids want and need more wisdom on the subject, and right now our schools mostly aren’t giving them quite what they require as funding for luxuries like love and health get the axe, but maybe the surreal sass of Lindsay Milner can save us:

The government of Canada has mandated that due to the terrible sex ed curricula of our nation’s past, all citizens must attend a S.C.R.E.W. session at this year’s St-Ambroise Montreal Fringe Festival. Bondage, biology and a brainy blond brandishing bananas make for the best mandatory fun you’ve had since you hit puberty.

-Together, we can DO IT!

• • • • • • • • • •

There’s tons of incredible (also also tons of crappy, probably) dance in the Fringe – I’m looking forward to the new showing from the wild hearted ladies of InFluxDance meself, for a dose of wise but unserious, accessible and inspirational modern dream dance:

The brain is a hostile place for dreams…Get it down in a letter. Paint a painting. Write your novel. But these things take time–too much time. Let us help you. We’ll catch your dreams and freeze them, they will last a lifetime.

inFluxdance strives to make dance theatre that is accessible, enjoyable, and a little bit quirky. Founding Artistic Director, Rose Pasquarello Beauchamp, is inspired to make movement accessible via her training in Laban Movement Analysis. She believes that dance is truly a communicative art form. Her artistic process is anchored in exploring the creative art-making process as a communication process. The results of this exploration are powerful and prove that there are no limits in dance/movement as an art form. Her mission is to inspire and empower people to move their truth and create movement-based art.

• • • • • • • • • •

Anything else you recommend we check out? See you around the beer tent!